Catalytic Carbon–Nitrogen Bond-Forming Cross-Coupling Using N-Trimethylsilylamines

Abstract Carbon–nitrogen bond-forming cross-coupling reaction of haloarenes with N-trimethylsilyl (TMS)-substituted secondary and primary arylamines proceeded with the aid of a palladium catalyst and a fluoride activator. Various TMS-N(aryl)2, TMS-NH(aryl), and TMS-N(alkyl)2 reacted to give the corresponding coupled products in high yields. Multi-TMS-amine nucleophiles such as N,N-(TMS)2-aniline and N,N′-Ph2-N,N′-(TMS)2-p-phenylenediamine also participated in this C–N coupling to give multiply C–N coupled products in high yields. The novel C–N cross-coupling reaction was successfully applied to C–N bond-forming polymerization. Relative rates of the cross-coupling of p-bromotoluene with N-TMS-substituted primary and secondary amines showed that N-TMS-diphenylamine reacted faster than N-TMS-N-methylaniline or N-TMS-aniline, and N-TMS-morpholine was the least reactive, indicating that the low basicity of the nitrogen nucleophile is the key for the smooth coupling.